The Night Before the Crucifixion

We saw yesterday that scourging definitely weakened the victim before he was crucified. While this was agonizing, it did speed up the whole process...The worse the scourging, the weaker the victim, the faster the death once hung on the cross. But, Jesus was in a relatively weakened state even BEFORE He was scourged.

After the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples walked a little over a mile to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, He stayed awake to pray. The Bible tells us that He was in agony. _{Luke 22:44}. He did not want to go through what He knew He was about to. _{Luke 22:42}. He was so emotionally tormented, that His "sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground". _{Luke 22:44}. There is actually a medical entity called hemohidrosis [or hematidrosis], which means bloody sweat. It is a rare condition that occurs in those under severe emotional stress and in those with bleeding disorders. The blood vessels around the sweat glands rupture and bleed into them. The blood then mixes with the sweat and makes its way to the surface of the skin. While there usually is not a large amount of blood lost, it does make the skin more sensitive. Thus, we are told not only with words, but with a physiologic response that Jesus was extremely emotionally burdened. He had not slept. And, the beating had begun.

Shortly after midnight, Jesus was arrested and taken before members of the Sanhedrin. He was tried throughout the night and found guilty of blasphemy. Although in Jewish culture, blasphemy was punishable by death, an order for execution had to come from the Roman governance. Thus, Jesus as then turned over to Roman officials, Pontius Pilate and Herod, between whom He was walked back and forth undergoing additional trials. Although the Romans made no legal charge against Jesus, Pilate had Him scourged. This was not enough for the Jewish religious leaders, and they and others demanded that Jesus be crucified.

In the 12 hours preceding His scourging and crucifixion, Jesus suffered severe emotional stress, had a sleepless night, walked over 2.5 miles to and from all His trials and was beaten and mocked. He was, therefore, especially vulnerable to what was about to happen...

-In Christ

Reference:

Edwards, WD. On the Physical Death of Jesus. Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol 256. March, 1986.

Crucifixion

As we approach ‘Good’ Friday, many of us are experiencing bittersweet moments… So happy, glad, THANKFUL we are that our Lord loved US enough to be TORTURED and DIE for us… So understanding that his TORTURE and DEATH was a necessary part of His conquering death… So joyous that, with His Resurrection, those who believe in Him would be granted eternal life… But so sobered by the fact that, although it was necessary, HE who knew no sin was TORTURED and KILLED. He SUFFERED more than most would be able to. So, let’s spend a few days considering this… The following has some graphic description, but there really is nothing we could read or see or imagine that would truly compare to what Jesus went through for us.

Crucifixion is thought to have originated in Persia. It was then adopted by the Greek empire and was first performed in Rome around 200 BC. In the first century BC, the Roman Empire began to use crucifixion in Palestine, where it was effective in dissuading resistance.

The usual practice involved the convicted person being stripped [sometimes completely] and then publically ridiculed as he was flogged/scourged [whipped]. _{Matthew 27:27-31, John 19:1.} The whips often had pieces of bone fragments and metal balls tied along it so that when contact was made with the skin, deep bruising and flesh wounds were created and pieces of tissue were pulled off the body. The victim was then usually made to carry the horizontal crossbar [patibulum] outside the city to the crucifixion site. _{John 19:17, Luke 23:26.} By law, the victim would be given a mild analgesic, which was a bitter drink made of wine and gall. _{Matthew 27:33-34}. Then, soldiers would either nail or tie the convict to the crossbar [patibulum] at the level of his wrists. Nails were iron spikes 5-7 in long and about 1 cm wide. They would then lift him onto the vertical upright post [stipes]. Depending on whether the crossbar [patibulum] was put at the very top of the upright post [stipes] or a bit lower, the crucifixion post formed the shape of a “T” or a “+”. Once hanging, the victim’s feet were then secured, either by nailing or tying. _{Mark 15:24.}

Death by crucifixion was typically a slow and agonizing process [excruciating comes from crucifixion]. Breathing in the hung position became increasingly difficult, especially after the flogging/scourging which by itself could cause severe dehydration and shock. Sometimes, to prolong the process, a wooden block was placed on the post [stipes] to serve as a seat for the victim. Or, to hasten things along, the soldiers would break the victim’s legs, making it nearly impossible to push up on them when trying to take a breath. Next, a titulus, a sign displaying the victim’s crime, was placed at the top of the cross. _{Matthew 27:37.}

Death would occur anytime between several hours and several days and primarily depended on how badly the victim was flogged/scourged. Insects and scavengers would commonly feed off the victim. For a final confirmation of death, Roman soldiers customarily pierced the side of the victim’s body with a sword or lance. _{John 19:34.}

Thank You, Jesus- the Christ, for Your sacrifice. Thank you for saving a wretch like me!

-In HIM

References:

1. Edwards, WD. On the Physical Death of Jesus. Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol 256. March, 1986.

2. Bowker J. The Complete Bible Handbook. DK Publishing. New York, NY. 1998. p 359.

Egg-stremely Unique Place For an Egg-vite!

Thank you April Jung for the great pic. April's Doral Connect Group had a great time handing out 54 Egg-vites all around the Dolphin Mall today. This is certainly an unique place for an Egg-vite. Another one of our Cooper City Connect Groups assembled over 250 Egg-vites this evening during class. What is your group doing to invite our community to experience God at Flamingo this Easter? Engage, participate, and make a difference! Have fun with your group in a "reverse Egg Hunt". Hit the malls and restaurants. Think outside the box. Send us your pics and stories!

A Quote For Today

Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose from the grave today, and is coming back tomorrow.
-Theodore Epp

While we do have a specific day to commemorate Christ's resurrection, let's make our lives, our walk a thankful celebration of Him, what He did for us, His conquering death and the Paradise that awaits us on the other side. It'll be the best party! For ETERNITY! So, let's take as many people with us as we can.

In Christ-
TKK

Photo Printers Needed this Easter!

Do you have access to a photo printer? Our Doral campus is planning to take family photos of all Easter attendees and provide them with a commemorative photo as they leave the service. Isn't that an awesome way to funnel people to our Connection Center? Giving our guests a photo also provides us with an opportunity to share with them, one-on-one, information about our Next Step class or help them connect with a group! However, to make this happen, we need several color photo printers. If you can help and loan Doral your printer, we can make this happen! Please contact our Doral Campus Connection Director at erin.diaz@flamingoroad.org if you can help.

Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.

I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.

For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.

Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.

Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.

Psalm 50:8-15

Part of us being made in HIS likeness has to do with the free will He has given us. While, ultimately, God is sovereign and controls all, He gives us the freedom to make choices. This is noted in the above psalm, when He distinguishes cattle, birds and animals that people would sacrifice from the thanksgiving of the people themselves.

When you think about it, thanksgiving [surrender, gratitude] really is all we have to give HIM. The only thing we have to give to Him is our brokenness. And it is precisely in our brokenness that HE is glorified.

In Christ-

TKK

Operation: Egg-REACH is HERE!

Easter is almost here! What is your group doing to prepare? We're egg-cited to tell you about an egg-strordinary and egg-cellent idea that was hatched at our last Connection Team meeting called Operation: Egg-REACH. Let me egg-splain.

We want all Connect Group members to reach out and eggs-pose their communities to Flamingo Road Church Easter Services by egg-stending them a Flamingo Egg-vite. An Egg-vite is a Jumbo plastic egg containing 2-3 Flamingo invite cards with the times of our Easter services and a couple of pieces of pre-packaged candy. Leaders should plan on providing each member egg-sactly 1 dozen plastic eggs containing the invite cards. Members will scramble around their community and leave their eggs in public places. For egg-sample, you can leave our Egg-Vites in banks, restaurants, beauty shops, doctor’s offices, egg-cetra. They should be fairly well eggs-hibited so they are easy to find. Who can resist opening an Easter egg?

Easter is a HUGE ministry opportunity for us, and we are egg-specting egg-splosive and eggs-ponential growth following this Easter season. As a church, our goal is 25,000 in attendance this Easter weekend! Therefore, it is egg-stremely important that all members participate. Jumbo eggs may be purchased at Publix (6 for .99), and they may be available at other retail stores for less. Pre-packaged candy (mini snickers, etc) are also Buy1 Get1 at Publix this week. For a relatively small investment (less than $5 per member), each group could potentially reach hundreds of people!

Flamingo Invite cards to include in your Egg-Vites are available at all campuses now. If you need further egg-spanation, visit your campus Connection Center for more details.

The Law of Process

Law #3 of John Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is:

The Law Process: Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day

Maxwell likens this law to investing: “Becoming a leader is a lot like investing successfully in the stock market. If your hope is to make a fortune in a day, you’re not going to be successful.” He reminds us that leadership is a collection of skills, many of which consist of mastering intangible factors. It takes time to practice and develop these skills. Therefore, leaders MUST be learners.. lifelong learners. He highlights that so many of us want quick fixes; we want the results without doing what it really takes to achieve those results.

Maxwell acknowledges that every person is different. While some people are born with more natural ability than others, everyone can learn and acquire the skills, grow and become effective leaders. He outlines 5 phases of leadership development:

· PHASE 1- I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know: Many people either fail to recognize the value of leadership, they don’t recognize the importance, or they think it is only for a few [for people at the top]. Actually, in the course of a day, most people usually try to influence at lease 4 other people. Thus, most of us are already in a position to lead. As long as a person doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, he will not grow.

· PHASE 2- I Know That I Need To Know: At some point, many people are placed in a leadership role and realize that no one is following. This is when they realize that they need to learn how to lead.

· PHASE 3- I Know What I Don’t Know: While energy and charisma may get you to a point when leading others, it is essential to develop leadership skills. The way to do this is by actively seeking that knowledge through a plan for personal growth.

· PHASE 4- I Know And Grow, And It Starts To Show: Once you dedicate yourself to daily discipline to learn and grow, YOU WILL. And, people will start to recognize it….Remember, this is not an overnight process. It takes years…decades. But, it has to start somewhere [just like investing]. During this phase, you can be effective as a leader, but you have to focus and think about most decisions…

· PHASE 5- I Simply Go Because Of What I Know: Once you reach this stage, your leading ability becomes almost automatic. You are second guessing yourself less and less.

This concept is reflected in Maxwell's following statements:

-“What a person does on a disciplined, consistent basis get his ready, no matter what the goal.”

- “Champions don’t become champions in the ring- they are merely recognized there.”

Applying the Law of the Lid to Your Life

1. What is your personal plan for growth? Write one out. Maxwell recommends reading one book per month. Listen to at least one CD or streaming message a week and attend one conference per year. Select the materials in advance, set aside time for growth on your calendar. Start IMMEDIATELY. If you need help developing a plan, you can read another book by John Maxwell, Today Matters.

2. One thing that separates great leaders from good leaders is the way they invest in those who follow them. Extend your plan for growth to those who follow you…take them through books, bring in trainers, mentor them one-on-one. Make providing opportunities for growth your responsibility.

3. When people in your sphere of influence know that personal growth and leadership development are valued, resourced and rewarded, growth will explode. And, that environment will begin attracted high achievers and those with great potential.

Reference:

Maxwell, John. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Chapter 3- The Law of Process. Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN; 2007

Jean Cutting Party at Flamingo

Jean Cutting Party all this week at the Cooper City Campus 6-10 PM. We've got 2,000 pounds of jeans we need to cut up into 6x6 squares, and we need your help! These squares are needed to maximize the impact of the message and will be used during the Easter Response Moment. Hey, guys....this could also be an awesome and easy way for your group to fellowship and "Team-Build" as you serve together. Bring your scissors, order a pizza, and just have fun with it! Community service hours are also available for your teens. If you or your group could help during the daytime, that would be great as well (contact Pastor Ricky at ricky.garcia@flamingoroad.org).
Let's make a difference this Easter!

Have You Washed Anyone's Feet Lately?

A Godly leader ... finds strength by realizing his weakness
finds authority by being under authority
finds direction by laying down his plans
finds vision by seeing the needs of others
finds credibility by being an example
finds loyalty by expressing compassion
finds honor by being faithful
finds greatness by being a servant-Roy Lessin

Leading begins with serving.

John 13: And during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table,* took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ 7Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ 8Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ ...12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.


-In Christ

Wisdom

"Wisdom" comes from the Hebrew chokmah. Chokmah can refer to 'skill' [as in craftsmanship, trade and war]. However, it more prdominantly refers to wisdom in daily living. It encompasses both intelligence and moral integrity and is the only way to avoid a sinful, destructive life and to achieve a fruitful life. It comes ONLY from God and is a gift from Him.

Proverbs 2 tells us all about the value of Wisdom and how her presence in our lives will certainly lead us along a path of uprightness, justice, equity, discretion, understanding. Wisdom is not automatic for us, but we can definitely learn it...acquire it. This proverb also tells us to "search for her as for hidden treasure" [verse 4]. So, it does take an active effort on our part. But, the BEAUTY is that, if we seek wisdom, GOD WILL give it to us. Hallelujah!

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. -James 1:5

-In Christ

Reference: The Nelson Study Bible- New King James Version

New Facebook Application for Flamingo's Internet Campus!

Flamingo Road Church Internet Campus has just launched its very own FACEBOOK APPLICATION! To install Flamingo's Internet Campus on your Facebook Page, simply go to apps.facebook.com/frclive to install. It has all the functions of the main page: streaming, chat, giving, "the card", etc! When you chat in your FB App, it is even linked to the IC main campus page chat! How cool is that???

Want to let your Facebook friends know that you are worshiping online? It's as easy as going to the bottom of the app and updating your wall! ALL of what you know and love about Flamingo's Internet Campus is in the social application you connect with daily! Share the app with your friends and give them the opportunity to worship "Flamingo-style" from anywhere in the world! This is truly leveraging technology to partner with people so they can reach their God-Potential!

Law of Influence

Law #2 of John Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is:
The Law of Influence: The True Measure of Leadership is Influence – Nothing More, Nothing Less

This law tells us that if you don’t have influence, you will never be able to lead others. Maxwell notes that leadership is NOT mere titles and reviews 5 myths about leadership…5 positions that many often assume equate to leadership [but do not necessarily]:

1. The Management Myth- “Leadership is about influencing people to
follow; management focuses on maintaining systems and processes…
...Managers maintain direction…Leaders create change.”
2. The Entrepreneur Myth- Entrepreneurs are “skilled at seeing
opportunities and going after them,” BUT they are not necessarily good with people
and thus may not have the necessary influence to lead.
3. The Knowledge Myth- He gives examples of college research
scientists, who are absolutely brilliant…but not leaders. While knowledge is
important for good leadership, knowledge does not equal leadership.
4.The Pioneer Myth- “To be a leader, a person has to not only be
out front, but also have people intentionally coming behind him, following his
lead, and acting on his vision.’
5. The Position Myth- “It’s not the position that makes the leader;
it’s the leader that makes the position.” [Stanley Huffty]

Maxwell then discusses what leadership IS. He lists some leadership factors important in distinguishing those who emerge as leaders and others who are unable to lead despite trying.
- Character- Who They Are- True leadership always begins
with the inner person.
- Relationships- Who They Know- The deeper the
relationships, the stronger the potential for leadership.
- Knowledge- What They Know- Without knowledge, no one can
become a leader.
- Intuition- What They Feel- Leaders have the ability to
deal with intangibles like energy, morale, timing and momentum.
- Experience- Where They’ve Been- Experience encourages
people to give you a chance to prove your ability.
- Past Success- What They’ve Done- Having/building a good
track record gives people reason to trust your leadership ability.
- Ability- What They Can Do- People want to know their
leader will lead them to victory.

Applying the Law Influence to Your Life
1. Which of the above myths have you bought into? Why? What does this say about your perception of leadership? What must you change in your thinking to make you more open to improving your skills?
2. Which of the above leadership factors do you rely on most to influence others? Rate yourself on a scale from 1 [not a factor] to 10 [you rely on it continually]. -How can you optimize those factors with lower scores?
3. Try to lead in a volunteer organization….It is here that you will learn to lead through influence [since you really have no other leverage]. If you are a connect group leader…you are already doing this!! Yeah!

Reference:
Maxwell, John. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Chapter 1- The Law of The Lid. Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN; 2007

A Quote For Today

Every great institution is the lengthened shadow of a single man. His character determines the character of the organization.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Church Streams Live on Facebook

(Article Re-Printed in its entirety from Outreach Magazine)

COOPER CITY, Fla.—Many churches do live Internet services, but Flamingo Road Church is taking it to a whole new level with a social network application. Flamingo Road Church is utilizing the Facebook platform, but took it a step further and developed the first live interactive service video streaming to connect with its guests.

"Today's society is looking for more interaction with spiritual activities and the video streaming does just that. It allows guests to enjoy the benefits of a social network, like Facebook, and attend church," said Troy Gramling, lead pastor of Flamingo Road Church. "We are in the middle of an exciting transition to a new church concept, the Church on the Internet. We are going out of the traditional brick-and-mortar buildings into cyberspace to provide an option for our guests from all over the world to experience one church where they are."

Flamingo Road Church is one of the leading churches that offer an "Internet campus" to their guests. Virtual church attendees can observe live services and simultaneously interact with Brian Vasil, Internet campus pastor. For additional information about the Flamingo Road Church Facebook Application, click here.

Flamingo Road is a church with a vision to partner with people to reach their God potential. Flamingo Road is a multisite church with campuses in North and South America that has grown from 2,000 to more than 11,000 under Gramling’s leadership. It also has also been recognized by Outreach magazine as one of the 100 Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches in America (No. 53 Largest and No. 61 Fastest-Growing in 2009).

Unleashing Chic's God Potential

I recently got to see my dream of partnering with women to reach their God-given potential unfold & can I tell you...it has ignited this passion in me to run after my destiny even more! Preparing for them, prepared me. Studying for them, grew me. Praying for them, stretched me. I will never forget their gab, giggles & even tears. Its unleashed something within me. I am so grateful for our time together & as a good friend I love & trust always reminds me, for even the "Journey" that got me here. Running after it with ALL that I am!

The Law Of The Lid

Law #1 of John Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is:

The Law of the Lid: Leadership Ability Determines a Person's Level of Effectiveness.

This law tells us that, in order to be able to influence and affect others, you have to have the ability to lead them. For example, if your current level of leadership ability [on a scale from 1-10] was a 4, then you would not be able to be effective above a 3. This is because your ability to lead will put a lid on or limit your potential effectiveness. He gives the example of the McDonald's fast food chain. Dick and Maurice McDonald worked very hard to build a very successful single fast food restaurant. They even had inquiries from others in the country on how to improve their own restaurants. They were great managers. But, when it came time to expand and start a franchise operation, they were not very successful, opening just 10 more restaurants. They were great managers, but not great leaders. Their level of leadership allowed them to succeed up to a point. Sure, they still attained success, but it was limited, there was a lid put on it by their thinking and ability to lead. When they partnered with Ray Kroc, who had a much higher ability to lead, he eventually bought the rights to the franchise and opened 100 McDonald's in the first 4 years [and 400 more in the following 4 years].

This concept is reflected in Maxwell's following statements:

-"The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. the greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be."

- "To change the direction of the organization, change the leader...Personal and organizational effectiveness is proportionate to the strength of Leadership."

Applying the Law of the Lid to Your Life

1. List some major goals [that will take at least a year to accomplish]. Identify those that will require other people to accomplish. For those, your leadership ability will greatly impact your effectiveness.

2. Assess your leadership ability to get an idea of your baseline leadership ability. [There is a leadership evaluation in Appendix A of the book].

3. Ask others to rate your leadership skills: your boss, spouse, 2 colleagues at your level and 3 people you lead. Ask them to rate you from 1-10 on: (a) people skills, (b) planning and strategic thinking, (c) vision and (d) results. Average the scores and compare to your assessment.

-Is your leadership skill better or worse than you thought?

-If there is a gap, why do think that is?

-How willing are you to grow in the area of leadership?

Reference:

Maxwell, John. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Chapter 1- The Law of The Lid. Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN; 2007

Operation: Egg-REACH

I’m egg-cited to tell you about an egg-strordinary and egg-cellent idea that was hatched at our last Connection Team meeting called Operation: Egg-REACH.

We want all Connect Group members to eggs-pose their communities to Flamingo Road Church Easter Services by egg-stending them a Flamingo Egg-vite. An Egg-vite is a plastic egg containing 3 Flamingo invite cards with the times of our Easter services. There will be no egg-spense for your members. Flamingo will shell out the eggs to the Connect Group leaders. Leaders will give each member egg-sactly 1 dozen plastic eggs containing the invite cards. Members will scramble around their community and leave their eggs in public places. For egg-sample, you can leave our Egg-Vites in banks, restaurants, beauty shops, doctor’s offices, egg-cetra. They should be fairly well eggs-hibited so they are easy to find. Who can resist opening an Easter egg?

Easter is a HUGE ministry opportunity for us, and we are egg-specting egg-splovive and eggs-ponential growth following this Easter season. As a church, our goal is 25,000 in attendance this Easter weekend! Therefore, it is egg-stremely important that all members participate. No one should be egg-cluded, and since the eggs are free, there should be no eggs-cuses!
Egg-Vites should be available at all campuses in the next week or so. If you need further egg-spanation, visit your campus Connection Center for more details. Sorry, I know all egg-puns are eggs-asperating and eggs-crutiating. Quite frankly, omlette’ll tired of the puns too, so I’ll beat it and make a hasty egg-sit. That’s All Yolks!

Tell Us Your Life Changing Easter Stories

Resurrection draws near!! [YES!!]

We would like to feature some of the life changes that have occurred as a result of anyone attending FRC for previous Easter services [especially last year]. Examples include accepting Christ, baptism, marriage saved, breaking strongholds, volunteering, etc.

Please ask your connect group members for any stories to share.

Stories can be added to this post as a 'comment' or can be emailed to Barby or Melissa.
barby.ward@flamingoroad.org
melissa.nadlman@flamingoroad.org

Looking forward to hearing about past life changes and seeing future ones come to pass!
Hallelujah!!

Controlling Our Minds

"If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one." — Carter G Woodson.

Carter G Woodson published this in 1933, concerning the ongoing oppression and slave mentality of many African Americans at that time. Even though Slavery had been abolished and African Americans were free, many did not behave so because for so long, their thinking had been [and was still being] controlled, so they still felt inferior on many levels.

In some ways, we can apply this idea to Satan's ongoing oppression of many Christians. We believe in Jesus and accept Him into our hearts, yet we still let Satan attack us, scare us, confuse us, control us. The TRUTH is that he has NO authority over us. We were bought, paid for with the BLOOD of Christ. We belong to Him! The only way Satan can have his way with us is if we let him! But, if we truly embrace what Christ did for us, we will understand that we have POWER...the power of the Holy Spirit, against which Satan is nothing!

Let us know who we are in Christ! It is He who should be controlling our minds.

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. - James 5:7-8

iLEAD Comes to Pensacola!

Members of Flamingo's Global iLEAD Team visited Pensacola this past weekend, and our team was blown away by the dedication, heart, and spirit of our PCola family! God has called us all to this awesome ministry of connecting people so they can reach their God-Potential. Flamingo's iLEAD (Investing in Leadership Education and Development) was created to equip our Flamingo Connect Leaders so they could reach their God-Potential and become the effective leaders God intended them to be!

iLEAD will be conducted quarterly on all our campuses (iLEAD 2.0 is coming). If you are a Connect Group Leader, Co-Leader, or Connect Group future leader and you missed iLEAD 1.0, please check with your campus Connections Director to see when the next iLEAD Academy is being scheduled. Remember, to "complete" iLEAD 1.0, you must have attended the training session, served at least once at your campus Connection Center, and "Followed" your iLEAD instructor(s) on Twitter!

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

Let's take a journey together.

In 2007, John C. Maxwell released the 10th Anniversary Edition of his: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. It presents 21 life-changing principles that can develop and enhance our leadership skills. "Everything rises and falls on leadership," notes Maxwell.

Each week, we will review one of the laws and travel together along the path of leadership.

Some introductory points Maxwell makes:

1. Leadership requires the ability to do more than one thing well. [The more of the laws we can master, the more effective leaders we will be.]
2. No one does all 21 laws well. [...BUT they are all important for great leadership. Thus, we should recognize those laws where we fall short and develop a leadership team of others who are strong where we are weak.]
3. The laws can be learned/acquired.
4. The laws can stand alone [...although they compliment one another and together produce a better result].
5. The laws carry consequences with them: apply them and people will follow; violate them and we will not be able to lead others.
6. These laws are the foundation of leadership [...we will have to practice and apply them to our lives].

Where there is no guidance [leadership], a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 11:14

Looking forward to growing together.

In Christ.

Ref: Maxwell, John. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Thomas Nelson, USA, 2007.

Trust

I've had "trust" on my mind alot these days...its not easily earned, nor easily given. Takes alot of work yet once earned, solidifies & strengthens your relationships to the point that anything is possible. I define trust as allowing someone to get so close to you, you take off all your masks...& allow them the privilege to see ALL your imperfections, flaws & quirks, yet they still accept, believe, love & guard your heart regardless.

I am so grateful for God who I can trust with all that I am for He has created me & defined purpose for me. I am also grateful for those I can confide & trust in as we do this journey we call Life. My prayer is each one of us as Connect Leaders will earn the trust of those we lead, love, & encourage. Trust is one of the greatest gifts you can give someone. Invest in your relationships whole-heartedly, or don't invest at all. Give people & those around you a reason to trust in you.